The cold-blooded murder of Kevin Rees, Auxiliary Nurse at the private Howell Clinic for stroke victims is greeted with apparent sorrow by all who knew him - well, nearly all. Dr Edwin Howell, neuro-psychiatrist and co-owner of the clinic, suggests the crime is the work of a burglar, but DCI Merlin Parry rejects this facile solution and digs deeper into Rees's background. As unsavory aspects of the young man's life emerge, many of those who knew him seem intent on withholding information from the police.